We will recall that by definition, a
gerund is a verb form ending in
“-ing” that functions as a noun in a sentence, as “singing” in “She loves
singing,” and that a
gerund phrase is a gerund modified by other words, as “singing in public” in “She loves
singing in public.” (Both “singing” and “singing in public” are, of course,
direct objects in these constructions.)
But sometime ago Tanzania-based Forum member Mwita Chacha asked this intriguing question:
“Can adverbs and adjectives both be used to modify gerunds or gerund phrases? I ask this because in the sentence ‘I regretted his leaving the job’, the pronoun ‘his’ is used as an adjective to modify the gerund phrase ‘leaving the job’; on the other hand, in the sentence ‘He enjoys jogging three miles during evenings’, the prepositional phrase ‘during evenings’ is used as an adverb to modify the gerund phrase ‘jogging three miles.’ My understanding is that gerunds function as nouns and that only adjectives can modify nouns.”
My answer to Mwita Chacha’s question:
Your understanding is correct that gerunds are functionally nouns and that only adjectives can modify nouns. In the case of gerunds and gerund phrases, however, we must make a clear distinction between internal modification and external modification.
In the first sentence you presented, “I regretted
his leaving the job,” the gerund phrase is “his leaving the job.” The pronoun “his” is integral to that gerund phrase and internally modifies the phrase “leaving the job.” Thus, being part and parcel of that gerund phrase itself, “his” can’t be considered as an external adjective modifying that entire gerund phrase.
Similarly, in the second sentence you presented, “He enjoys
jogging three miles during evenings,” the phrase “during evenings” is integral to the gerund phrase “jogging three miles during evenings.” The phrase “during evenings” indeed functions internally as an adverbial modifier of the verb “jogging,” but it is actually part and parcel of that gerund phrase, not a separate grammatical entity. Externally then, from the standpoint of the entire sentence, “during evenings” is not an adverbial modifier of that gerund phrase.
We can therefore see that although both adverbs and adjectives can modify gerunds or gerund phrases, they can do so only within the gerund phrase itself but not externally. Once the modifications are done, they become integral to the gerund phrase in its function as a noun.
An important corollary question comes up at this point:
Can a specific gerund phrase be modified at all in a given sentence? I don’t think so. That gerund phrase is already cast in stone as a grammatical entity, so to speak. Indeed, any modification of that sentence can only be done on the operative verb (and also on the subject, of course). For instance, we can restate the sentence “I regretted
his leaving the job” as, say, “I
terribly regretted his leaving the job” or “I
regretted terribly his leaving the job,” but in both cases, the adverb “terribly” isn’t modifying the gerund phrase “his leaving the job” but the verb “regretted” instead. (Let that idea sink in before you go on reading.)
An external adverb that may appear to modify or seem to modify
a gerund or gerund phrase is actually modifying the external
verb acting on that gerund or gerund phrase
We can similarly restate the sentence “He enjoys
jogging three miles during evenings” as, say, “He
immensely enjoys jogging three miles during evenings.” Here, the adverb “immensely” clearly modifies the verb “enjoys” and not the gerund phrase “jogging three miles during evenings.” In fact, even if we reduce that gerund phrase to its limiting gerund form, “jogging,” it still couldn’t be legitimately modified by the adverb “immensely.” This is because whether we construct the sentence as “He immensely enjoys
jogging” or as “He enjoys
jogging immensely,” the adverb “immensely” still modifies the verb “enjoys” and not the gerund “jogging.”
It should therefore be clear by now that gerunds and gerund phrases, being self-contained noun forms in function, can only be modified by adjectives; an external adverb that may appear to modify or seem to modify a gerund or gerund phrase is actually modifying the verb acting on that gerund or gerund phrase.
This essay, its concluding paragraph slightly revised in this posting, first appeared in the column “English Plain and Simple” by Jose A. Carillo in the June 23, 2012 issue of The Manila Times
, © 2012 by the Manila Times Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.IMPORTANT RELATED READING:How gerund phrases work
